Roosevelt Charm: FDR, Jr., like his father, has a way with people. Now a representative from New York and a member of a group of congressmen touring part of the country to inspect housing conditions, he was photographed while surveying conditions in a Philadelphia slum area. The black boy is 7-year-old Benjamin De Witt. Behind him is Walt Alessandroni of the Philadelphia Housing Authority.

On recto: typewritten title and date. On verso: typewritten title, International News Photos stamp and date stamp.

Wire photographs were originally transmitted over phonelines, then later, by satellite. They were first used in the early 1920s. Associated Press became a leader with this. After pigment touch-ups, etc., the print is put into a drum (like a drum scanner). The image gets converted into audio tones that are transmitted. The tones are received and beamed onto photo-sensitive paper. Wire photographs are copies without originals---they are hybrid, transmitted objects. (Britt Salvesen, Curator and Department Head, Photography Department, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, March 30-31, 2022)

This object has the following keywords:

• Benjamin De Witt
• Cars
• Child Portraits
• Civil Rights Movements
• Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr.
• Housing
• Injustice
• Philadelphia
• Philadelphia Housing Authority
• Racial Discrimination
• Reviews
• Slums
• Street Scenes
• Walt Alessandroni

• Image Dimensions: 8 5/16 x 6 5/8 in. (21.11 x 16.83 cm) Measured by Hudson, Karen
• Sheet Dimensions: 9 x 7 1/8 in. (22.86 x 18.1 cm) Measured by Hudson, Karen